Nordine Amrani, who killed five people, including himself, and wounded at least 122 in Liège, Belgium. Photograph: Sudpresse

Belgian police have found the body of a woman at the home of the gunman who killed four people and injured 122 in an attack in the city of Liège.

Liège prosecutor Daniele Reynders said the body of a woman in her 40s had been discovered during a search of Nordine Amrani's property.

Reynders said Amrani, 33, died in Tuesday's attack in an apparent suicide, and was found with a number of grenades still on him.

"What killed him was a shot in the middle of his forehead," she said.

Two teenage boys aged 15 and 17, and a 75-year-old woman also died in the attack, while an 18-month-old toddler died on Tuesday evening in hospital, Liège police said. Several people remain in intensive care.

Beyond the dead and injured, Reynders said some 40 people had to be treated for psychological trauma.

It remains unclear what motivated the attack. Reynders said that after searches of Amrani's house terrorism could be excluded as a driving force.

Amrani, who had spent time in jail for offences involving guns and drugs, had been called in for questioning by police in a sexual abuse case.

Officials said he left his Liège home with a backpack, armed with hand grenades, a revolver and an FAL assault rifle.

He walked alone to a busy city centre square, then got onto a platform that gave him an ideal view of the area below, which was decorated with a huge Christmas tree and crowded with shoppers.

From there, he lobbed three hand grenades towards a bus shelter that serves 1,800 buses a day. The explosions sent shards of glass from the shelter across a wide area. He then opened fire upon the crowd.

As soon as the shooting began, hundreds fled the square as well as a nearby Christmas market. Video from the scene showed the crowds, including a large group of children, surging through the city centre to seek cover, some still carrying shopping bags.

About this article

Liège attack: body found at Belgian killer's home

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 05.13 EST on Wednesday 14 December 2011.
It was last modified at 13.50 EDT on Wednesday 18 June 2014.
It was first published at 03.32 EST on Wednesday 14 December 2011.